Book review: Fifty Words for Snow by Nancy Campbell
Sometimes you pick up a book and know it’s going to be special.
Fifty Words for Snow by Nancy Campbell is the perfect read for people who love language and collecting books.
It explores the words different languages use to describe snow, digging into the meaning and origins, through anecdotes and storytelling. Each word is accompanied by a story, whether that’s something from the author’s life, a historic moment or a folktale.
The book winds from country to country, recounting the author’s own experiences in snowy lands and the cultures within them.
I particularly loved the chapter entitled Hima, which begins: “It has snowed only once in Thailand – allegedly.” There follows the story of one evening in 1955 where the weather may or may not have produced a flurry of snow in this tropical region.
This is a beautiful book. The cover design is stunning but simple, the end papers gorgeously designed and each chapter prefaced with an illustration of a snowflake.
It’s the kind of book that makes the perfect Christmas gift, one you will dip in and out of on cosy winter evenings while the snow falls outside and new words curl across your tongue.
Find out more
Fifty Words for Snow on Amazon, Goodreads and Hive.
N.B. I received a complimentary copy of this book from publisher Elliott & Thompson in exchange for review. All opinions my own.